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Ozone News:Andy Yates - Ozone Zephyr Review

Written by Ozone on 01 April 2013. Posted in Industry News

In somewhat of a last minute decision, I was stoked to head off to New Caledonia to test the new Zephyr 17m from Ozone. I had used this kite in the past and from what little experience I had on it, I thought that it was amazing in light winds as a kite suitable for beginners only. How wrong I was…

I’ve been on C kites for my whole kiteboarding career and have never even given a bridled kite a decent go. My first few sessions on the Zephyr were in about 5-12 knots. I was absolutely amazed with the performance during these sessions and while kitesurfing alongside test rider, Torrin Bright, we were powering upwind on all sorts of boards; twintips, foils and raceboards. It was truly amazing to see the apparent wind we could generate in these marginal winds. I’m always hesitant to unhook on a kite that is not my own.

I guess you could kind of say I’m a bit anal about changing anything in my equipment. However, in this trip to New Caledonia, I wanted to prove to myself that anything is possible on any GOOD kite, provided you give it a chance. Put simply, the kite is amazing unhooked. A few sessions of practice and it was almost as if it was a scaled up C4. In about 10 knots, I was powering upwind and busting all the tricks I can do on my C4 – much better than being on the beach waiting for those extra few knots.

I say with complete honesty that the kite did everything that I wanted it to – but it wasn’t just this, it was the stability and solid feel that really impressed me.

One session particularly stood out for me where there was a consistent 8-11 knots with perfectly flat water – duh! It’s 8 knots!! Anyway, I don’t think I thought about the kite once in the session – all my concentration was on the trick itself and not on what the kite was doing. I mean, that’s pretty awesome; it was almost as if it just parked itself right where I wanted it to, and when I did the trick, landed and hooked back in, it was still right there.

I don’t know about you, but this really gets me excited. Can’t say much more about the kite than say that I’m stoked on it.